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Correspondence

Tumor Cells in the Pulmonary Vein

Department of Thoracic Surgery, University of Freiburg, Hugstetter Str. 55, Freiburg, 79106 Germany

(Email: bernward.passlick{at}uniklinik-freiburg.de).

To the Editor:

With interest we noticed the report by Okumura and colleagues [1] on circulating tumor cells in the pulmonary vein of patients with primary lung cancer. Okumura and colleagues [1] analyzed the peripheral blood and blood from the pulmonary vein in 30 consecutive lung cancer patients by using the so-called "cell search system" to detect circulating tumor cells. However, it should be realized that in 2003 our group already published a study [2] on more than 60 patients analyzing the blood of the tumor-draining vein of patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer. By using an immunohistochemical analysis with a monoclonal antibody A45-B/B3, we were able to detect tumor cells in approximately 18% of our patients. Although this phenomenon did not correlate with standard clinical pathologic measurements, it was an independent prognostic factor at least in patients without mediastinal lymph node involvement. The number of tumor cells in the pulmonary veins, as detected by Okumura and colleagues [1], seems to be astonishingly high (ie, 96.7% of the patients). Therefore, it seems to be questionable as to whether the system used by the colleagues is really specific for the detection of tumor cells in the pulmonary vein.

	References

Top References

 

1. Okumura Y, Tanaka F, Yoneda K, et al. Circulating tumour cells in pulmonary venous blood of primary lung cancer patients Ann Thorac Surg 2009;87:1669-1675.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Sienel W, Hibler RS, Mutschler W, Pantel K, Passlick B. Tumour cells in the tumour draining vein of patients with non-small cell lung cancer: detection rate and clinical significance Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2003;23:451-456.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. Tanaka, Y. Okumura, K. Yoneda, and S. Hasegawa Reply. Ann. Thorac. Surg., December 1, 2009; 88(6): 2071 - 2071. [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Bernward Passlick Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Passlick, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Passlick, B. Related Collections Lung - cancer Related Article